Sunday, September 8, 2013

September 8Fully Loaded2 Corinthians 10:1-18

Paul’s Defense of His Ministry

10 By the humility and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you—I, Paul, who am “timid” when face to face with you, but “bold” toward you when away!2 I beg you that when I come I may not have to be as bold as I expect to be toward some people who think that we live by the standards of this world.3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.6 And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.

7 You are judging by appearances.[a] If anyone is confident that they belong to Christ, they should consider again that we belong to Christ just as much as they do.8 So even if I boast somewhat freely about the authority the Lord gave us for building you up rather than tearing you down, I will not be ashamed of it.9 I do not want to seem to be trying to frighten you with my letters.10 For some say, “His letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing.”11 Such people should realize that what we are in our letters when we are absent, we will be in our actions when we are present.12 We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise.13 We, however, will not boast beyond proper limits, but will confine our boasting to the sphere of service God himself has assigned to us, a sphere that also includes you.14 We are not going too far in our boasting, as would be the case if we had not come to you, for we did get as far as you with the gospel of Christ.15 Neither do we go beyond our limits by boasting of work done by others. Our hope is that, as your faith continues to grow, our sphere of activity among you will greatly expand,16 so that we can preach the gospel in the regions beyond you. For we do not want to boast about work already done in someone else’s territory.17 But, “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”[b]18 For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.*****************************************In Christ, we have weapons! There is a lot of talk in our nation about weapons these days. But are you aware that THE MOST POWERFUL WEAPONS are weapons that are "OUT OF THIS WORLD"?These weapons are more powerful than any weapons that man can conceive.They are fully loaded with the Power of GOD!God says that Yes we will fight battles here.And so He Himself gives us what we need.These weapons will DEMOLISH STRONGHOLDS! THEY ARE EVEN EQUIPPED WITH THE ABILITY TO CHANGE PEOPLES MINDS! Now can you imagine what power is in that~ If we could get people to change their minds about some very important things, the entire scope of humanity would have a much better chance at a peaceful successful life! AND these weapons begin their work with us.They give us the POWER to take our own thought life captive to be obedient to the Lord Jesus Christ. What peace and blessing we will enjoy when we can fully comprehend these WEAPONS and how important they are.As believers, we have access to the POWER given to us by the Lord Jesus Christ to bring the truth to the frontline.WITH THE WEAPONS OF THE WORD OF GOD(read it and believe it!) we have been given the authority and ability to "tear down every high and lofty thought that thinks it knows better and more than God knows". And there is a whole lot of that going on these days.So believers! CALL TO DUTY. GET YOUR ARMOR ON (Ephesians 6:1) and Get YOUR WEAPONS LOADED WITH THE TRUTH OF THE WORD OF GOD and get going for HIM. It is time to rescue the perishing... as the old hymn reminds us~!